bengalcub said:
The Rome wasn't built in a day BS...it' lame.
You realize that Rome was nothing more than a simple farming village of a few huts and fields on the hillsides to begin with, right? And that the Latins were culturally and economically dominated for awhile by the Samnites, Estruscans, and various Greek/Italian colonies?
Just a point. It really did take Rome several hundred years, 7 kings and two types of governments before it even coalsced into the Roman Republic.
Britain was a resource-poor island nation that struggled for centuries to maintain her independence until
she started to play her cards right. The end result: becoming the greatest empire known to man.
Germany was nothing more than a collection of literally hundreds of dukedoms, fiefs, city states and principalities well into the 1830's after France, Russia and Britain as well as other nations had been unified for centuries. Fate finally played her role and they were eventually led by one of the world's greatest leaders
and strong men in Otto von Bismarck. Germany, led by the Prussian state and Bismarck's vision, became the ultimate power on the European continent that surpassed even Britain in industrial production; her army was the most well-trained and the General Staff second to none in terms of tactical and military expertise.
Japan was also resource poor and
looked down upon as a second rate power even after bringing herself 300 years ahead in just 50.
They had vision, devotion and an unswavering patriotism in making their nation a world class country. And an incredible upset with the Battle of Tsushima which marked Japan as a world power.
Now you're all probably wondering what this has to do with being beaten soundly by a school that's like half our size. My answer: everything!
Idaho State is in the same boat as many of these nations before their ascendence to world power and influence. Like Germany pre-Bismarck, we're fractured into many tiny pieces that makes it hard to have any sort of vision (even though Germany had a vague idea of what they wanted to be). Like Japan, we're resource poor and 20 years behind other schools in facilities and support. Not to mention that until we get our Tsushima, we're nothing but a 3rd rate school. Like Britain, we're struggling against the seemingly invulnerable powers of Montana and Montana State (like Britain vs Imperial Spain and France).
We need to take these to heart. We need a strongman with vision like Bismarck, we must have our unswavering devotion to the cause like Japan.
Like France, we need to have a nasty purge and top-down reformation (interpret that purge however you'd like). Having major victories like Tsushima and our own Captain James Drake splitting the Spanish Armada are a must. We've already had our crushing defeats not unlike the Prussians had against Napoleon at Auerstadt (the crushing blow the French inflicted destroyed the army of Frederick the Great and led to major reforms of the army that 50 years later would entail the rise of the most powerful army on Continential Europe), now Idaho State must turn those defeats into reform.
Summing it up again, ISU needs-
-A strongman with some iron will
-A vision of what we want in the big picture
-Serious reforms (playcalling, philosophies, attitude...)
-Scoring a few upsets here and there once we have a cohesive unit of coaches and players
-We already have the defeats and flaming destruction, now we need to turn that into something good.
It won't be easy but hell, being a fan here is never easy. It's daunting and we may very well go down in a flaming, crashing doom. But we're at a very crucial crossroads in ISU football history. We live or die right now.
To Arms!
